ANNOUNCEMENTS: The short program will announce the President's House Fundraiser scheduled for September 9, 2008 at 5:30pm at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

BACKGROUND

The President's House — Freedom and Slavery in Making a New Nation is an important historic project that is designed to commemorate the house where Presidents George Washington and John Adams lived from 1790 to 1800, and tell the long-obscured story of at least nine enslaved Africans who toiled there during Washington's presidency.

In February 2007, the team headed by Kelly/Maiello Architects and Planners was selected to design a new permanent outdoor installation on the doorstep of the Liberty Bell Center. As a result of structural findings uncovered during an archeological dig at the site from March — July 2007, the design team enhanced the plan by incorporating these findings into the design. The new structure commemorating the President's House will allow for 24-hour access to the site. State-of-the-art studio and interactive visual technology will tell a series of compelling stories of life in the President's House. There will also be a place of solemn reflection in the area that is thought to be where enslaved persons slept, right at the entrance to the Liberty Bell Center. These interpretive features are intertwined with the "bricks and mortar" construction of the commemoration.